A few days ago, a childhood love of mine opened my mind a bit. In the world at large, fear is considered the enemy. Something to vanquish and overcome. We've been told "There's nothing to fear but fear itself". It's said to stand for False Evidence Appearing Real; Forgetting Everything's All Right; and Feeling Empty After Relationship. All of those catchy phrases imply that fear is an illusion or lie. A lie is a thought or a collection of words. Fear, on the other hand is an emotion. I have been so afraid to face that emotion, that I have built facade after facade to avoid it. I believed that feeling fear was a sign of weakness. I now feel that it takes more courage to face it than to hide from it. I'm starting to believe that like all things, we have not been told the whole truth about fear and may be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Here's a few definitions: An unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat; a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the unpleasant emotional state consisting of psychological and psychophysiological responses to a real external threat or danger, including agitation, alertness, tension, and mobilization of the alarm reaction.
I'm starting to see that fear, like all things, is not positive or negative but may be harmful or useful depending upon the situation and how it's used. It also seems that much depends upon whether or not the fear is real or imagined. Abraham, as channeled through Esther Hicks says "your emotions are your guidance system", so how can any part of your guidance system be bad?? So, where fear is concerned, if you feel it, you are either making up something that is not real, in which case, changing your thoughts and beliefs will alleviate the fear. Or you are recognizing a real threat (something you don't want) and are being guided to take appropriate actions. So, we can be plagued by fear or inspired by it. Example...if Angelina believes that because of my past, I will eventually leave her for another woman(which she has thought many times in the past), she will feel a distressing emotion, based upon an imagined result, guiding her to trust me more and ask for support. If I believe that Angelina will leave me if I do not treat her like the goddess she is, while devoting my life and body to her, I will feel a distressing emotion, based upon a fact, guiding me to commit to doing whatever it takes to meet her needs and desires. Pretty simple huh?
Here's another def; to have a reverential awe. Wow, reverential. I have developed that definition for the fear I have for addiction. I am in sheer awe of it's power over me and what it takes to stay sober. I guess I could say "I'm in such fear of loss of personal freedom and power, that I abstain from my addiction." I am grateful to fear for inspiring me to change my beliefs and/or take appropriate, fear alleviating action.
So for anyone that likes simple analogies like I, fear is like an alarm, when it goes off, don't build a sound-proof room around it. Don't break it. Don't pretend it isn't going off. Don't go get high so you don't hear it. Don't beat yourself up for having it. Instead, feel it, ask for the gift, take appropriate action or change your thoughts and allow it to silence on it's own. This is my journey right now. I am tearing down the sound-proof room, making friends with it, staying sober and lovingly accepting that I have it. It was loud as hell a week ago. Now it's getting quieter. I do prefer that my life be guided more by joyous passion than by fear. Still, I'll take all the guidance that divine intelligence has to offer.
BEING AFRAID OF FEAR CAUSES MORE SUFFERING THAN THE FEAR ITSELF....swami armandananda
No comments:
Post a Comment